Hate

By Shreyas Raman

Hate: the primordial furnace, fueling the innate desire for destruction,

That ignites from specks of flickering embers, compound to lasting devastation.

A self-subjected venom, that festers flesh with anger and fear,

That corrodes adamant bonds of love, overshadowing compassion to a blear.    

Hate strikes down an unsuspecting Ukrainian flight, ending all 170 lives.

Hate rains 10,000 missiles on sacred land, erasing lineage and archive alike.

Hate foolishly binds us to corrupted idols that pursue violent and selfish fights.

Hate embroils for years amongst the people, who for freedom and justice unite.

Hate shoots a 12 year-old for throwing snowballs at its car,

Hate builds monumental walls to the clouds, just to distance its neighbor afar.

Hate coops migrant children in farmhouse cages, till they can’t recognize their mothers,

Hate targets the unarmed for their pigmentation -- no hesitation to kill a brother. 

Hate betrays 1 million lives, when reforming its religious identity,

Hate broods perpetual violence built on ‘map lines’ and a ledger of history. 

Hate subdues the poison of fear and threat, by murdering millions of minorities, 

Hate escalates bill amendments to symbols in protest against unyielding autocracy.

 Hate stands by as the Amazon burns, suffocating worries for future impact,

Hate conceals long-lasting suffrage and slavery, still brewing without detract.

Hate indoctrinates an indifferent youth taught to ‘categorize’ by color, gender and religion,

Hate is the tool that blinds the fool, from seeing that we are all just human.

By Shreyas Raman